Near Dark [Blu-ray]

Set in Southern farm country, almost entirely populated by rednecks wearing sweaty Stetsons
and varying colours of check shirt, it tells the story of Caleb. On the surface, it is a

'boy-meets'-girl' narrative - he sees the sweetly gamine Mae (Jenny Wright) standing in front
of a sweet shop, eating an ice cream, and things quickly progress. When Mae gives him a love
bite that smarts, the rising sun burns, and he is snatched into a Winnebago with blacked-out
windows, his nightmare is only just beginning. Led by Jesse (Lance Henrickson), who is quietly
spoken and charismatic, the brood travels across the USA, leaving carnage in their wake. Like
a bloodthirsty, dysfunctional, poor white trash family, they bicker, get sentimental over past
times and slaughter without compunction. Bill Paxton is especially good as Severen, who is more
than slightly crazy, as is Homer, the vampire child who is in fact the eldest.

The film is punctuated throughout with graphic violence, and does not shy away from portraying
the vampire as a monster. There are no Anne Rice Brat Princes here. The vampires do not have
fangs and few apparent supernatural powers - they kill with guns and knives. The feeding frenzy
designed to initiate Caleb and wean him off his reliance on Mae's blood is a masterful exercise
in tension and brutality. When cornered in a Mexican style stand-off with the local sheriffs,
gunfire punching holes through walls that allow in deadly sunlight, the vampires respond in
typical fashion. The imagery here is excellent, contrasting dank, fetid shadows with shafts of
pure, hard sunlight. Throughout the film, the relationship between Mae and Caleb is touching,
although Pasadar plays him a little too generic corn-fed farm boy for credibility. Their story
is about teenage love that lasts for forever - they will never age or die, but their love is
destructive, almost incestuous in its need. Caleb almost kills Mae by feeding only on her.

The climax of the tale is spectacular, satisfying the audience's need to see the evil punished
and the good redeemed. Although accomplished in cinematographic terms, the film has not stood
the test of time and will seem a bit cheesy to a contemporary audience. It is worth watching
for the 'cure' for vampirism and the wonderfully deranged characters in Jesse's 'family'. So
next time you see a strange, cute blonde girl eating ice cream in the dark... leave her be!

Copyright (c) 2001 Helen Murphy
All Rights Reserved